This invention relates to a cable stranding machine, comprising an elongate rotor supported for rotation about a longitudinal axis and having at least one pair of opposed longitudinal beams, and pairs of opposed bobbin bearing devices secured to the longitudinal beams in spaced relationship along the longitudinal direction of the rotor, each bobbin bearing device including a pintle support secured to the respective beam, a pintle for supporting one end of a thread bobbin for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the rotor axis and rotatably supported by said pintle support, and means in connection with at least one pintle support of each pair for axially displacing the associated pintle towards and away from the opposed pintle.
The effect of making one pintle--or if desired both pintles--of each pair of bobbin supporting pintles axially displaceable relative to the axially fixed pintle support is to facilitate, during unloading and loading of the rotor, the withdrawal of the pintle from an empty thread bobbin and the subsequent clamping of a full bobbin between the pintles. A further effect is that minor deviations between the width of individual bobbins can be compensated for by a fine adjustment of the distance between the opposed pintles.
Known stranding machines of the kind referred to are constructed such that they can process bobbins of one nominal width only, since it is only possible to effect said fine adjustment of the pintle spacing in the bobbin clamping position, whereas the axial distance between the pintle supports remains fixed.